Kodiak Shuttle
Abigail sat in the cargo compartment of the Kodiak shuttle as it rushed barely fifty feet above the Pacific Ocean, cradling the Cain in her lap as they went. Her eyes were closed as she was trying to get a few minutes precious sleep.
"You sure about this Lola?" James asked from his seat turning to her.
Her eyes blinked open; she sighed, and turned to face her husband. "No, not exactly. But I'm not sure I want to risk an entire squad down there."
"And what would the risk be?" Cameron joined in. "And what would be the risk that could be faced better by three people then by one?"
Abigail shrugged, "mind control, they could flood us, kill us in all sorts of ways."
"And, you don't want the assist?" James pressed.
She smiled, "Yeah, that is what you are here for, backup, in case I need you."
"Right." James nodded. "You have a death wish or something?"
"Just a wish to get the job done James." Abigail smiled wistfully at him. "After all I have experience with the whole mind control thing, you do not."
They held their gaze for a few moments, James bit his lip, Abby felt like sighing at the unfairness of the universe. I almost wish he didn't love me that much, would make a lot of this much easier. But he did, and she loved him. It was tough being a member of a military family, to have both sides united in their desire to serve a greater good. And knowing that the dangerous situations she was putting herself in would probably be putting her child in danger.
But she had to do it in a way, if only to keep James and everyone else safe from harm, if only because she had gone through this before. Her mind had been bent spindled and mutilated at least once, and Abby hoped that gave her a sort of immunity from it happening again. Not to mention she was more confident in herself and her place in the universe then she ever had been before, Harbinger's attempt at Indoctrination had let her come to terms with a lot of what she had done in her personal struggle with the Reapers, and put a lot of her demons to rest.
Of course this banks on the fact that Reaper and Leviathan Indoctrination is just similar enough…though I was able to resist them the first time.
"I'll be fine James," She assured him once more by laying a hand on his arm. He brought up a confident smile in response, probably just faking.
"Heads up," Cortez spoke, spoiling the moment, from the cock pit.
Abigail moved to join him at the heart of the Kodiak's operations, "What've we got?"
"As the databases indicated, there is a structure down there, and a massive life form reading. Other than that…nothing but ocean."
"Right." Abby sighed, very original Steven. "Wonder if they have the same countermeasures they did in the Leviathan planet?"
"No indication of that," Cortez spoke, "but just in case…hang on!"
Cortez dove the Kodiak, accelerating with all due thrusters, pushing the boundaries of the Kodiak's design and rolling it into the water. The shuttle crashed, Abby grabbed for the safety harness at the last moment as the Kodiak, the sudden forward momentum colliding with the choppy sea, strained even the inertia dampers at full power.
The console beeped at the pilot, Abby and he shot it a look, and Cortez locked down the problem with a deft jab at the controls. After about ten seconds the ride stabilized and the Kodiak motored through the ocean, making about thirty knots, passing a few scattered schools of fish and other aquatic life on the way down.
But just as quickly as they appeared, the vanished, the Kodiak was virtually all alone in the blackness of the ocean. No sun, no light, could penetrate this far down.
Alright that is probably my cue, Shepard thought crawling back into the cargo area. She flipped open one of the compartments and then got out the thick wet suit she was using to get the rest of the way. She hitched the Cain onto its back as she finished pulling on the pressure suit and the other accoutrements.
"Good luck," James said once more.
Abby nodded, and blew a kiss through the face plate, before turning for the edge of the door.
James and Cameron moved to the cockpit section of the shuttle as Cortez sealed it off from the inside, she was now all alone. Shepard took a couple of deep breaths as the pressure on the inside slowly equalized, and Cortez popped the door open.
She floated out of the Kodiak getting her bearings, not wanting to start anything until she was sure she was clear. Finally she kicked in the suits thruster suite and shot downward at a rapidly accelerating rate. It took her mere moments to get down to the bottom, the facility rising up out of the rocks and the peaks of the ocean floor. She circled it for a second, studying it with her eyes, not seeing the Leviathan or any other creatures around her, that's disturbing. But she had no other choice, and with her reconnaissance complete, she maneuvered downward, leveling out at a metal impression cut out of the ocean floor before a door.
Her legs caught the platform and it reacted to her presence, even though her suit was secure tightly to her, her skin still prickled and tingled. A shield instantly sprang up around her, purging the platform of water, and driving it back, connecting it to the building. She sighed, and marched right in, the door opening before her advance.
Pressing a button on her arm she activated her Omni-tool and scanned the surrounding environment. 'Air, pressure, no discernible toxins, nothing obviously concerning.' She nodded determined, and flipped off her helmet, simultaneously pulling it off with a very loud hiss.
She held it for a second, her eyes wide, and took a tentative breath. The air was crisp clean, pure. It was quite nice in all honesty.
The hallway she was in was open to the outside ocean above her, through obviously thick glass panes; she could look up into what looked like the endless night, only making out air bubbles as they burst skyward. She watched them go for a second before stowing the rest of her gear, it was a risk, but it allowed her to move freely.
Shepard started walking, not running, keeping the Cain in her hand as she carefully maneuvered down the hall. Not wanting to start a trap or destroy the wall she was currently walking by.
Suddenly the path opened up into an observation dome of sorts. There was a light at the end of it which painted the ocean in bright colors, that was not there when I was coming down, but the light, was showing, a Leviathan.
Abigail's heart leapt up into her throat at the site of it sitting there, floating, painted in a deeper, darker, black then the surrounding ocean even with the light. It was massive, as usual, distinct, looking like a large moving piece of coral reef, its tentacles flexing lightly in the current.
She stood there with a few moments, I think it's asleep, she thought breathing a sigh of relief. She reached into her equipment harness and began getting the explosive out and placing them to the wall. Even better Abigail realized the thing was in a glass dome of its own, and the slightest change of air pressure would probably doom it.
"You are not Soren." The voice boomed in her head.
You get a cookie.
Abigail Shepard flinched as she felt the Leviathan forcibly enter her mind, tearing into it with ease and gusto, her head blanked out from the pain and she blinked. Suddenly she was in the same black water she was in on her last meeting with the Leviathan.
"You are Shepard."
She turned around to face the voice and saw the blank stare of James Vega looking back at her.
"Well, at least that is new." Abigail stated looking at the spectral form.
"We learn, we grow, we adapt. Searching your minds, this one is important to you…as is…this one" The Leviathan disappeared only to reappear on the other side, now looking like Miranda. "And this one." Now it looked like Ashley.
"This slide show is supposed to what…impress me?" Abigail shrugged.
"You are weak, individually you are weak. Your Species is weak. They can be taken from you with but thoughts. On one of our whims." Miranda-Leviathan explained.
"You know for all of your 'we can wipe you out on a thought' things you certainly haven't been able to wipe us out yet." Abby challenged.
The Leviathan figure disappeared again; Abigail looked around, and then heard a hiss off to her side. Suddenly Kaidan was standing there.
She flashed back to the real world and felt her nose bleeding again before she once more flashed to the Kaidan figure.
"He was wiped out, with a thought, a single thought, yours and Saren's, condemned him to death." Kaidan-Leviathan spoke out.
"You really expect that to work?"
"A thought can take many shapes," Mordin, "it can lead to many things," Legion, "Our thoughts shape the universe around us." Thane.
"Then why wait? Why not wipe us out?" She choked on her smile, "I mean after all you are clearly so superior to us."
"We do not wish to destroy, only to control. To guide and nurture, to assume our position after the Reapers tore it from us, and you stole it from the Reapers. But you cannot wield that power; humans do not have the breadth, the infinite faculties to control the fate of the Galaxy. We, who have been around for billions of years, do."
"Has age really given you the wisdom to do what you say? How can you be sure of your abilities when you were betrayed by your own creation? When your 'thoughts' clearly do not give you the control you think they do over us and the Reapers before us?" Abigail asked.
And she was plunged into darkness, deeper darkness, a throbbing beating sound droned into the ears, causing her to wince and shake her head looking down. Childlike laughing met her ears; she looked around, scrambled, peering into the darkness. Suddenly more people started running by, shadows, Kaidan, Thane, Mordin. She shook her head, trying to follow each specter.
"I am past this! I have made peace with it!" She raged into the night.
"Then why does it mark your memories, why do you seem absorbed with it." The Leviathan challenged, once again looking like Kaidan.
"Because it keeps them alive, it keeps me alive. It is the only way to make their deaths have meaning. To honor them, it does not control me, but to forget, I forget how and why they died. It is something us lowly beings need to do, to find meaning."
The Leviathan was silent and she was once again doused in the pitch darkness. She spun around, sloshing the watering around, but with no sound, she was entirely alone. Into Darkness.
She felt arms go around her waist from behind, and something tickled at her hair, whispering in her ear "why do you resist us Shepard?"
She spun around and was face to face, chest to chest, with a specter of Miranda Lawson.
"Really, now this is all you've got?" She hissed arching an eyebrow.
Miranda-Leviathan swayed back, Abigail rolled her eyes, and "Organic species have many feelings that can be exploited."
"I think you are barking up the wrong tree." Abigail felt her eyebrow arch again into her hairline.
Miranda-Leviathan smirked at her wryly arching a playful eyebrow.
Abigail huffed enraged and got up into the specter's face, "you know you are even more desperate then I thought, no wonder the Reapers kicked your ass."
"We were betrayed, by our intelligence, it struck without-"
"Yeah, yeah, it struck without warning. Your intelligence, your tool, your thing you used to try and understand synthetics, you built a synthetic. To control it, to continue to control the Organics you ruled, to try and fight fire with fire, but then why did your charges build their own synthetics in the first place?"
The Catalyst took on Anne Bryson's form, "Yes, we know. The organic species that gave us tribute built machines to help them solve their problems. To do work. To-"
"To protect themselves from you." Abigail countered.
The Ann-Leviathan threaded its eyebrows at her in thought, its eyes narrowed, it mouth peeled downward.
"Think about it, they created something. Something you did not understand, something you could not anticipate, and can't control even to this day. They created this because they feared you, because you were in their heads and in their minds and in their homes. You could manipulate them and make them give you tribute, but you could not control them, not all the way, in fact you were fine with them having just a little bit of freedom."
"The races were young, weak, small, they needed guidance, they needed for us to control them and determine their destinies. We wanted to protect them; we wanted them to reach their full potential."
"And did you ever ask them if they liked that? If they wanted it? People need to be left alone, and we do not want to be controlled under any circumstances."
Ann Leviathan was replaced by a Leviathan shade that looked like Soren.
"Your history is a contradiction to this statement. It is a history of blood, of Governments rising up to conquer the masses and control the populations. Killing their fellows based on differences of race and ideology, imposing their will whether they wanted to or not. This is a contradiction, this is a weakness, our guidance did not result in holocausts, and we ensured the peaceful preservation of our charges. Your race could have used our guidance."
"You are missing the point," She held her hands up in frustration, "you miss the point. You are judging us by the actions of our species, and while we have collectively made mistakes at every turn we have had people resisting them, growing learning, without control. We did not need you."
The Leviathan smiled cockily at her.
Abigail headed its obvious retort off at the pass, "and just what did you do? If I was to judge you by the standards you would judge us then you would have made terrible guardians. Most of the races you were 'protecting' died off, through suicide, and your tools rebelled against you."
"There need to be guardians, the powerful leading the weak, the wise, the stupid, this is our people learn, how life evolves."
"No, its how it stagnates." Abby chopped her head dramatically. "You controlled organic species, so they built tools that you could not control, but then imposed restrictions and tried to control their genius, their tools rebelled against them and wiped them out, you did not understand so you modeled their behavior and created your tools and controlled it to the point it rebelled and deemed you were a threat."
"That is not what happened, we did not understand…"
"You did not understand, now do you think you can now? Do you really believe that you could not make the same mistake, let go, stop this now."
"The Cycle must continue, the younger races must be controlled, for their own good, to prevent the return of the Machines, and the ceasing of tribute."
"And who elected you God?" She snapped.
"Power is not elected. If you will not submit to us but you will die."
"Then I chose death, rather than to live a slave." The Valkyrie stated simply backing off.
"So be it." The Leviathan spat at her walking away.
She switched back to real life and she could feel her head start to vibrate, her entire body was shaking apart at the seams, her head feeling like it was being jabbed with a million sharp painful earth quake sticks. She collapsed, but scrambled to her feet, her finger flexing dramatically.
Now she was back in the Leviathan reality, James was holding her by her throat, choking the life out of her, she coughed and spluttered.
"You will die, alone, and without meaning."
Instead she brought up a smile, and taunted the Leviathan, "Just remember, you did this."
"What?"
She flipped back to reality and had just enough strength to bring up the Cain, her finger squeezing and pulling down on the trigger, holding it in place. She swung it around and pointed it far at the window of the dome above her.
The weapon fired, lurching in her hand, nearly taking her out and nearly detaching her arm from the shoulder. The shell raced up into the sky and exploded against the dome's wall, water breached and crashed in through the hole rapidly changing the pressure of both the inside and where the Leviathan was. The blast set other explosives off driving shards of metal into the Leviathan. The Leviathan was sucked in and thumped dramatically against the piece of the wall that was still intact, crashing and making it collapse, spikes of glass driving up into its sides.
The chamber rapidly filled with water, crashing into Abby slamming her into the back wall, the empty husk of the Cain spilling from her hands.
The door secured itself with the breach in the dome, the dome which was now filling with water. The Spectre groaned as she felt whoozy. She banged twice on the door, more out of frustration then any expectation it would do anything. But this caused her to over balance and collapse into the frightfully cold water, her hair moving into it, drenching itself. Shepard scrambled to her feet, but crashed into the water, this time butt first, the chamber was filling up, nearly level to her waist now.
Abigail Shepard eyed the breach in the hull, it was just big enough where she might be able to get through by swimming but there was no way she would survive to the surface, she could already acutely feel her body temperature crashing. The heat being leached by the cold ocean that was swarming in.
She looked down at her stomach again and whimpered, she was not showing yet, but she knew what this meant. I'm content to die, but…not like this…not with that extra life. She cast another meaningful glance around the dome, but there was no way out. None that she could see.
Spluttering she tried to move again, the water suddenly sprung up to her chin as she wasn't watching, she scrambled around but could not find a firm footing, and ended up slipping, now the water was up to her mouth nearly, and she choked as the salt started burning into her mouth.
A smile tugged at the corner of her lips, she felt light headed and sloshed back in the water. Well, I almost hate going, but freezing to death isn't so bad. Besides, at least I won't have to put up with the universe trying to kill me every six months…I can finally relax…one way or another.
I only wish I could have gone on life's next adventure.
She felt her body relax and felt her mind let go of its pain, slowly falling into an almost blissful face. She could make out lights and faces at the edge of her perception, ghosts, people she loved and she hated, who missed her and would love to see her gone. She focused in on one of them.
I love you James… her mind called out.
As she let go, going into darkness.
But she felt her body start to rise, to be sucked out, through the water, she was vaguely aware of it, wondering if this is what it felt like to let go of one's physical form. But that sounded, wrong, to her, she wasn't sure.
She had no ideas and no feeling anymore as she went deeper into unconsciousness losing all contact with the outside world.
…
Waking with a gasp, her eyes flung open wide and could feel water purging itself from her lungs, pouring off her body and her hair, covering the metallic floor with dampness, its own river. Her vision was blurry but she swore she could just see James backing up, heading for the edge of the Kodiak's cargo bay to give her space.
She blinked her eyes and ran an armored arm over her eyes. This allowed her to confirm her environment, her setting, the bright lights of the Kodiak, the display screens and statistics racing across them. Cameron and James were looking at her, concerned, closely, but giving her the space she needed to recover.
Abigail tried to speak, but instead started hacking, her knee came up dramatically and her head came down as she coughed and spluttered another wave of salty fluid that had gotten into her. The fit passed after a minute and Abby felt purged, felt like she could breathe fully again.
Once more she turned to Vega, "Thanks." She gasped.
"No problem Lola." Her husband replied nodding at her. "I've always got your back."
She nodded, and brought up a grateful smile reaching for his arm. He took hers and forced her up onto her unsteady feet. She looked at them both and nodded once more.
"Did we do it? Is it over?" Cameron asked.
"Yeah," Abby breathed, relieved, "for now."
….
"The war is over, time to rebuild, time to learn. But the threat is still out there, and we must remain vigilant."